Technology Russia accused of hacking the phones of NATO soldiers

21:52 05 october 2017

21:52 05 october 2017 Source:
Engadget

Alleged leaker hid NSA documents in pantyhose, report says

A former National Security Agency contractor has reportedly told federal authorities that she smuggled classified documents out of the NSA office where she worked by stuffing them in her pantyhose. The documents reportedly contained classified data on Russia’s alleged hacking during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.Reality Leigh Winner, 25, a former Air Force linguist with a top-secret security clearance, was asked by an FBI agent about how she managed to get the documents out of the agency's Augusta, Ga., office.

Russia has been accused of trying to gain operational information, gauging troop strength and intimidating NATO soldiers by targeting smartphones, the paper said. L’Heurex said at least six soldiers under his command had had their smartphones or Facebook accounts hacked , adding that

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, at least six Nato soldiers were victims of hacks . told the Journal that he found evidence of someone with a Russian IP address attempting to access his phone . This is not the first time that Russia has been accused of targeting Nato in cyberspace.

The intruders are compromising phones or Facebook accounts, in some cases grabbing data from handsets and erasing contacts. And while the Russian government has historically denied involvement in any hacking campaign, officials have little doubt that it's behind the attacks.

Western forces note that the efforts are not only very well-coordinated, but that the equipment involved is likely too sophisticated for criminals. A probe spotted a portable antenna used to compromise phones, for example, while drones are also part of the campaign.

Russian War Game Used 'More Than 40,000' Troops

Large drills require comprehensive observation from other nations and NATO that Russia did not invite during its Zapad 2017 exercise.The Zapad 2017 drill with Belarus officially involved 13,000 troops in the country, which borders Ukraine and three NATO allies. Such a low number would normally mean that the participating countries do not need to invite international observers to the drill. Ultimately only Belarus did this, but in a very limited capacity that did not involve crucial aspects of required observation such as allowing overflights, providing briefings and allowing observers to speak to individual soldiers.

Russia is hacking the smartphones of NATO troops in Europe in a cyber campaign to gauge military strength, gain insight on operations and intimidate After the incidents in January, soldiers at the Tapa base have been told to remove the SIM cards from their phones and use the internet only at

Even the way soldiers learn of the hacks hints at an official Russian campaign: American soldiers have had strangers (likely Russian agents) come up to them mentioning details of their personal lives.

It's relatively easy to defeat these campaigns. In response to one incident, soldiers pulled SIM cards from their phones and were barred from going online beyond specific, locked-down hotspots. Estonian recruits are barred from using smartphones during operations.

How serious are these breaches, though? Given that the attacks have done very little damage or are harvesting info that's already public, officials believe they're primarily intended as a form of intimidation: we're watching you.

They may also be a way of finding out whether or not troop levels at a given base are larger than NATO claimed on the record. The concern is that there may be a time where these hacks deal serious damage.

A hacked phone might serve as a Trojan horse if it connects to a secure network, for starters. Either way, the discoveries could have armies rethinking their smartphone policies to eliminate even the slightest risk of hacking attempts on the front lines.

Wall Street Journal

NATO chief: 'We don't want a new Cold War' with Russia .
NATO doesn't want a "new Cold War" with Russia despite members' concerns about the Russian military buildup close to NATO's border, the alliance's secretary general said Monday. Jens Stoltenberg was speaking at the end of a four-day NATO parliamentary assembly in the Romanian capital, Bucharest."We are concerned by .... (Russia's) lack of transparency when it comes to military exercises," he said.He mentioned a Russian-Belarus operation in September involving thousands of troops, tanks and aircraft held in Belarus, on NATO's eastern edge.

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Russia has been accused of trying to gain operational information, gauging troop strength and intimidating NATO soldiers by targeting smartphones, the paper said. L’Heurex said at least six soldiers under his command had had their smartphones or Facebook accounts hacked , adding that

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, at least six Nato soldiers were victims of hacks . told the Journal that he found evidence of someone with a Russian IP address attempting to access his phone . This is not the first time that Russia has been accused of targeting Nato in cyberspace.

Russia has been hacking smartphones of NATO troops - nypost.com

Russia is hacking the smartphones of NATO troops in Europe in a cyber campaign to gauge military strength, gain insight on operations and intimidate After the incidents in January, soldiers at the Tapa base have been told to remove the SIM cards from their phones and use the internet only at

NATO soldiers ' cellphones are being hacked and compromised in an ongoing intelligence exploitation and intimidation campaign by Russia . Col. L’Heureux said that at least six soldiers directly under his command had also seen their phones and Facebook accounts hacked .

NATO soldiers deployed to eastern Europe are scrambling to defend against smartphone hacks . The Wall Street Journal is reporting a new string of phone and account hacks launched against It wouldn’t be the first time one of Russia ’s enemies found themselves overwhelmed by low-level digital

The incidents began in January when NATO troops noticed contacts missing from their phones . Thomson Reuters. Russia has been hacking the cellphones of NATO soldiers stationed near its border "to gain operational information, gauge troop strength and intimidate soldiers ," according to

Russia may be using drones to hack the phones of NATO soldiers - www.techspot.com

Six soldiers have confirmed that they were hacked while stationed at the Russian border. The attacks have targeted the iCloud accounts, Facebook pages, and cell phones of about 4,000 NATO troops.

NATO - RUSSIA - scoalanato.files.wordpress.com

It built on the gradual development of NATO - Russia relations since 1991, which were formalised and broadened with the signing of the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security in 1997. Practical cooperation in the Balkans, where Allied and Russian soldiers had been serving alongside

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